Can anybody confirm the legitimacy of this rumor?

[IanDLBZF]

According to another forum, I have heard rumors that none of the characters at Crystal Palace (in a similar manner to Minnie's Seasonal Dine) are signing and they are handing out autograph cards in what seems to be a trial for Crystal Palace.
Original Poster on that forum, who has a friend who is friends with Eeyore and her mother, mentioned:

"So far, so good. Tons of managers on hand explaining what they are getting is a "gift from the characters" and an "exclusive item"." He says so far everyone has been eating it up and the table turnover as predicted is super fast. Perhaps this is just at table service locations? Supposed to be a trial at CP.

@berlioz70 @SpectroBro or any of the other insiders out there, can you confirm the legitimacy of this rumor?

 

[drizgirl]

According to another forum, I have heard rumors that none of the characters at Crystal Palace (in a similar manner to Minnie's Seasonal Dine) are signing and they are handing out autograph cards in what seems to be a trial for Crystal Palace.
Original Poster on that forum, who has a friend who is friends with Eeyore and her mother, mentioned:

@berlioz70 @SpectroBro or any of the other insiders out there, can you confirm the legitimacy of this rumor?

If true, that's really crappy. People pay the money to be there to see and interact with the characters, which includes getting an autograph if desired. Doesn't Chapek care about autograph book sales?

 

[IanDLBZF]

If true, that's really crappy. People pay the money to be there to see and interact with the characters, which includes getting an autograph if desired. Doesn't Chapek care about autograph book sales?

This rumor seems false obviously.

 

[SpectroBro]

According to another forum, I have heard rumors that none of the characters at Crystal Palace (in a similar manner to Minnie's Seasonal Dine) are signing and they are handing out autograph cards in what seems to be a trial for Crystal Palace.
Original Poster on that forum, who has a friend who is friends with Eeyore and her mother, mentioned:

@berlioz70 @SpectroBro or any of the other insiders out there, can you confirm the legitimacy of this rumor?

They have been testing out cards. I do know most performers find this location one of the most "difficult" dining locations to work for a variety of reasons. Without getting too specific, This will probably help in efficiency as well as relief of stress for some performers. But as I said, this is only in testing.

 

[IanDLBZF]

They have been testing out cards. I do know most performers find this location one of the most "difficult" dining locations to work for a variety of reasons. Without getting too specific, This will probably help in efficiency as well as relief of stress for some performers. But as I said, this is only in testing.

Just at Crystal Palace? By the way, they do this at Minnie's Seasonal Dine, and at the Bon Voyage Breakfast (despite having the characters sign).

 

[Disney4family]

We just dined there for b'fast on 8/4 and every character signed our books.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Just at Crystal Palace? By the way, they do this at Minnie's Seasonal Dine, and at the Bon Voyage Breakfast (despite having the characters sign).

From what I understand if you ask they will sign your book. I don't like the cards personally

 

[Weather_Lady]

I don't like the idea of handing out cards, BUT the Crystal Palace has a serious problem with the speed of character rotation and needs to find a way (some other way) to improve the experience. (The obvious solution -- the one WDW is avoiding in the interest of money-grubbing, I assume -- is to have two identical sets of Pooh characters touring at the same time, one in each of the two wings of the dining area, and to restructure the atrium so that those at the buffet won't run the risk of seeing both sets and having to explain to the kids why there are two Tiggers.)

My family had dinner there last November, and although we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and freshness of what we found on the buffet, the timing of our meal was AWFUL. We waited more than 30 minutes to be seated for our 4:55pm reservation, and it took another 90 minutes for just TWO of the four characters to have reached our table -- the other two hadn't even reached our dining room! By that time, we were long finished with our meals, and the characters were preparing to halt their tour of the tables to get ready for a second hourly "parade around the restaurant," even though they hadn't yet made one full circuit through the two dining rooms. DH and the kids ended up simply ambushing (politely) the remaining characters in the other dining room, just so we could get the heck out of there. Had we waited for the characters to get to us on their own time, we'd have spent two-and-a-half hours at the restaurant (three if you count the time we spent waiting to be seated). When it takes more than 2 hours for 4 characters to circulate during a hugely expensive character meal (which would appear to be the reason that within 90 minutes of opening, the restaurant already had a 30+-minute backup to be seated -- it certainly wasn't the fault of the servers, who were all but sprinting from table to table to take care of everybody), there's a problem.

 

[drizgirl]

I don't like the idea of handing out cards, BUT the Crystal Palace has a serious problem with the speed of character rotation and needs to find a way (some other way) to improve the experience. (The obvious solution -- the one WDW is avoiding in the interest of money-grubbing, I assume -- is to have two sets of characters touring at the same time, one in each of the two wings of the dining area, and to restructure the atrium so that those at the buffet won't run the risk of seeing both sets and having to explain to the kids why there are two Tiggers.)

My family had dinner there last November, and although we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and freshness of what we found on the buffet, the timing of our meal was AWFUL. We waited more than 30 minutes to be seated for our 4:55pm reservation, and it took another 90 minutes for just TWO of the four characters to have reached our table. By that time, we were long finished with our meals, and the characters had stopped visiting tables to get ready for their second "parade around the restaurant," even though they hadn't yet made one full circuit through the two dining rooms. DH and the kids ended up ambushing (politely) the remaining characters in the other dining room just so we could get the heck out of there. Had we waited for the characters to get to us on their own time, we'd have spent more than two full hours at the restaurant (nearly three if you count the time we spent waiting to be seated). If it takes more than 2 hours for 4 characters to circulate (which would appear to be the reason that within 90 minutes of opening, the restaurant already had a 30+-minute backup to be seated -- it certainly wasn't the fault of the servers, who were all but sprinting from table to table to take care of everybody).

If they can't get 4 characters to rotate through fast enough, they need additional characters. I like Pooh as much as the next guy, but they've had the same rotation there since the dawn of time (at least that's how it seems). I say time to mix it up. Add some others. Make it more like Plaza Inn in DL where you can see different ones on different days.

 

[Worldlover71]

If they can't get 4 characters to rotate through fast enough, they need additional characters. I like Pooh as much as the next guy, but they've had the same rotation there since the dawn of time (at least that's how it seems). I say time to mix it up. Add some others. Make it more like Plaza Inn in DL where you can see different ones on different days.

I agree they should have more characters so you do not have to sit so long between interactions but even with more characters, people will still want to meet all of them. I have pictures with 8 characters from Minnie's breakfast at the Plaza Inn at DL but there were still a few we didn't get.

 

[IanDLBZF]

http://www.wdwnbeyond.com/big-change-coming-to-character-dining-at-walt-disney-world/
It appears an announcement has been made and it should only affect a few locations at this point. Announcement is as follows...

"To improve our Guests’ interactions with Characters at Walt Disney World character dining locations, and to increase the overall efficiency of the restaurant, Characters at some locations will no longer be signing autographs at the Guests’ tables. Guests will receive a pre-signed Character card at the location that will fit in their autograph book.”

 

[NYwdwfan]

We received the cards 8/19 when we dined. Characters at that time were also signing books if asked.

 

[WDW Dad 23]

We were there on 8/10 and they were definitely signing autographs if asked. That said, we missed Pooh by one table when we were seated and it took 1 1/2 hours for him to get back (a little too long for breakfast). We actually saw Piglet 2X in that period, so they clearly mixed up something in the rotation.

 

[Biff215]

Adding more characters won't help as most guests will not leave until they see each one. Adding a second duplicate set is complicated and unlikely to happen. Clearly CP is too large to efficiently make this work, so they should either cut the characters or the number of tables, neither of which will happen obviously.

This is why we cut back to one character meal this past trip, and we chose Ohana so we could avoid a buffet. Otherwise you fear going to get food and missing a character. It's a shame that character meals have become this long and stressful, especially when most parties include young kids. The prices are enough to keep me away, but discouraging autographs only makes it easier to avoid.

 

[drizgirl]

Adding more characters won't help as most guests will not leave until they see each one. Adding a second duplicate set is complicated and unlikely to happen. Clearly CP is too large to efficiently make this work, so they should either cut the characters or the number of tables, neither of which will happen obviously.

This is why we cut back to one character meal this past trip, and we chose Ohana so we could avoid a buffet. Otherwise you fear going to get food and missing a character. It's a shame that character meals have become this long and stressful, especially when most parties include young kids. The prices are enough to keep me away, but discouraging autographs only makes it easier to avoid.

And they're just figuring this out after how many decades of the same characters in the same location?

The only thing I see that has changed here is Iger's drive to increase margins even further in the parks.

 

[Biff215]

And they're just figuring this out after how many decades of the same characters in the same location?

The only thing I see that has changed here is Iger's drive to increase margins even further in the parks.

True, but if guests are spending over an hour here because they're waiting for characters and done eating, then there's something wrong.

 

[Casper Gutman]

True, but if guests are spending over an hour here because they're waiting for characters and done eating, then there's something wrong.

Well,it's only wrong if you only care about margin and not guest experience and you don't mind letting everyone know that. For how many decades has the system they eliminated been just fine?

Handing out cards gives kids the thrill of meeting a new business associate! It's so warm and special! In fact, why do we even need the costumes? The waiter can just bring four cards with your meal!

The key to running an entertainment corporation is to maintain the illusion that some of your emphasis is on "entertainment" rather than "corporation."

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

This article from Disneyfoodblog shows what said Pre-Signed cards look like...http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2017/...n-voyage-character-breakfast-in-disney-world/

 

[GhostHost1000]

I know this is a big change for some but I wish ALL characters would hand out an autographed (collector) card or a stamped autographed...but I think the card would be better.

This would make lines go much quicker as well plus it isn't easy for them to sign their name in some of those costumes

 

[Ryan H. Serowinski]

More like "autograph cards will be cut" such a stupid rule.